Problems such as pollution, waste of energy, increase in traffic accidents, increase in costs, and the like, have occurred because the roads have reached its limits to manage traffic due to an incredible increase in traffic. Therefore, various methods for scattering heavy traffic are being used by collecting traffic conditions of the traveled road and providing optimal course guiding services to drivers.
For example, a navigation system loads a map from a compact disc (CD) for displaying a course to the destination or for guiding the drive with letters or sounds according to information supplied from a traffic information sensor through a wireless communication network.
In addition, in the case that the navigation system does not have a map, it receives map data of the traveled region through wireless communication with GPS, and then supplies the course guiding service using information received from an information supplying center.
As one can see, the work of collecting, analyzing, and databasing traffic information has to precede the supplying of traffic condition information to the vehicle.
The apparatus for collecting traffic information include unmanned image monitoring apparatus mounted on the roads, crossway, or the like, and loop sensors mounted on the surface of the roads, or the like. Police, reporters, and drivers also supply traffic information.
Traffic information is supplied to the driver without applying other factors such as weather, driving habit, road curvatures, and degree of slope due to limitations in the collected traffic information from the apparatuses for collecting the traffic information of the roads, the traffic warden, the reporter, and the respective driver.
Therefore, an uncertainty occurs in the traffic information supplied to the driver because traffic conditions of real roads do not apply to the information, and confidence is lowered because the traffic information supplied to the driver does not represent actual speed of the roads. In addition, the unmanned image monitoring apparatus and the loop sensors mounted on the surface of the roads, or the like, are very expensive, which presents a problem of incurring great initial costs and maintaining costs. Another problem occurs when the representative speed of a road is not supplied because there are not apparatuses for real-time collecting traffic information and a reporter for the road.
The information disclosed in this section is only to enhance of understanding of the background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information serves as prior art that is already known to a person of ordinary skill in the art.